A solid understanding of numbers is vital to be able to tell the time in any language.

Study this key vocabulary and then attempt to tell the times that follow.

Hilfsvokabeln – Helpful vocabulary

• ...Uhr – ...o’clock
• die Uhr (f) – clock
• nach – past
• vor – to
• Viertel – quarter
• halb – half
• Mittag – midday
• Mitternacht – midnight

24-hour clock

The 24-hour clock is useful in German, as it clarifies the time much more clearly than the 12-hour clock.

For the 24-hour clock, the easiest way to tell times is to replace the colon (:) that is used to denote time in German with the word Uhr, eg

• 13:10 > dreizehn Uhr zehn
• it's 10:20 > es ist zwanzig nach zehn

Did you know?

Germans do not say half past the hour, but a half to the next hour.

It means that halb zehn (literally: half ten) is actually a half hour to ten o’clock, or in other words 09:30.

It also means that you have to be careful when arranging to meet up with friends, or you might keep them waiting for a whole hour.